Newsletter – Week 4, Term 1 2026

                                         Week 4 Term 1 2026

Kia ora koutou Parents and BDS Whānau,

Welcome Stacey Muellers
We are delighted to welcome Stacey Muellers to our school as our new Office Administrator. Stacey will be working from 9:00am – 2:00pm, and we are so pleased to have her join our team.

Trish Toussaint has now moved into her new office, and Stacey will be based at Trish’s former desk at the front office. Please feel free to pop in and introduce yourself, I know you will make Stacey feel very welcome.

Whānau Picnic
Our Whānau Picnic was a fantastic success. It was wonderful to see so many whānau come along to our recent picnic. We had an incredible turnout, and it was wonderful to see children and families connecting and building relationships.

The water slide was hugely popular and kept the tamariki entertained throughout the event. There was a great atmosphere across the grounds, with staff mixing and mingling with families, making the afternoon even more special.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the day such a success. We also appreciate those who stayed for the Year 6 Kauri camp meeting afterwards.

A Huge Thank You to Our PTA and Year 5 Tōtara and Year 6 Kauri Families
A huge thank you to our wonderful PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) for organising and selling our bake sale items, and to our Year 5 Tōtara and Year 6 Kauri parents for supporting our fabulous bake sale by providing the items for sale.

The event was a tremendous success, and we are so grateful for the generosity, time, and effort that went into baking, organising, and supporting on the day. Thanks to you all, the funds raised will make a meaningful contribution towards camp costs for our students.

We truly appreciate our supportive school community, what a fantastic team effort.

Education Review Office (ERO)
We are extremely proud to share that the Education Review Office (ERO) has now finalised our report, and it is available to read on our website.

The report reflects how well we are doing at BDS across all areas of our school. It acknowledges the strong systems, leadership, teaching practice, and supportive culture that make our kura such a special place for learning.

Personally, I would like to sincerely thank our incredible staff for their ongoing effort, professionalism, and dedication. This report truly reflects the commitment they demonstrate every day to our students and wider community.

To our PTA, School Board, and BDS whānau, thank you for your continued support. Together, we make BDS a truly special place.

Areas of Strength Identified by ERO
ERO highlighted the following key strengths:

• Caring, respectful, and inclusive learning environments that support student wellbeing, a strong sense of belonging, and high engagement in learning.
  
• Strategic leadership that sustains a trusting and collaborative culture amongst staff.
  
• Effective use of evidence by leaders and teachers to evaluate student progress and plan clear next steps.
  
• Clear curriculum planning, teaching, and assessment systems that ensure school-wide consistency of teaching practice.
  
• Well-considered professional learning, including structured literacy, that is being successfully implemented to improve learning outcomes for all students.
  
• A School Board and leadership team focused on strengthening the conditions that support student success.
  
• Resourcing decisions that ensure programmes meet diverse needs and improve student progress and achievement through appropriate staffing levels.
  

We warmly invite you to explore the full report on our website and celebrate all that we have achieved together. Head to the School Board page, and scroll down.

 Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Parkins, Principal – Tumuaki (vickip@botanydowns.school.nz)

Coming Up @ BDS

Thurs 26 Feb – HPPA Cricket (Pool A)
Mon 2 Mar – Kauri Team Yr 6 Camp (returning Wed 4 Mar)
Thurs 5 Mar – Tōtara Team Yr 5 Camp Parents Meeting, starting 6.30.pm
Mon 9 Mar – Tōtara Team Yr 5 Camp (returning Tues 10 Mar)
Tues 10 Mar – Girls Smash Cricket Day
Wed 11 Mar – HPPA Cricket (Pool A)
Fri 13 Mar – Senior School Swimming Sports Day
Fri 20 Mar – No Uniform Day
Mon 23 – Fri 27 Mar – BOOK WEEK
Wed 25 Mar – HPPA Swimming
Thurs 26 Mar – HPPA Cricket Finals Day

SCHOOL NEWS

Student Leaders

As you know, our House Leaders were selected last year. However, over the last two weeks Year 5 Tōtara and Year 6 Kauri students who applied to be a different student leader have completed team building and interview tasks to help decide who would be our School Councillors, Ambassadors, and Peer Mediators.

After much deliberation, the students below have been selected. Mrs Keenan, Miss Thomson, Mrs Fromont and Mr Insley would like to congratulate those students who have been selected and give a big thank you to all of the students who applied. These students will receive their badges at assembly this week.

School Councillors 2026

Ambassadors 2026

Peer Mediators 2026

Road Patrollers 2026

Book Week – Coming Soon in Week 8!

Planning is underway for our upcoming Book Week – a celebration of books and reading! The Book Week team is working on an exciting week full of fun and activities around the school.

The Scholastic Book Fair will be open in the library with lots of great books and gifts on offer, and special guest authors will be coming to visit to inspire our students.

And of course, the week will finish with the popular Book Character Dressup Parade! Get thinking about your costume…

Keep an eye out for more details…

HPPA Softball Tournament

The Softball HPPA Tournament on Wednesday 18th February was a fantastic day, with amazing participation from all of our team members. The students showed great enthusiasm, had plenty of fun, and learned a lot about the rules of softball throughout the day.

They enjoyed it so much that they wanted to continue playing when we returned to school!

There were some standout moments, including home runs from Christian Perry and Xavier Marck, along with excellent pitching from our team across the games. A big thank you to our awesome parent helpers for their support, which helped make the day such a success.

PTA Notice

Dollar for Schools lunch orders!

Register and order online at www.dollarforschools.co.nz.

 

Order by 9.00am for same day delivery; $1 from every order goes to our school. 

Mondays – St Pierre’s Sushi

Thursdays – Subway

Fridays – Domino’s Pizza

Fun and Learning @ BDS

Year 1, Rimu:  Room 7 students have had a wonderful start to 2026 ‘The Year of the Horse’.

They have embraced all learning opportunities with enthusiasm including visits to our library, swimming in the school pool, and learning letters and numbers.

We used permanent markers, pastels and dye to create our ‘Abstract Self Portraits’:

Mrs Hatley-Owen read us a story and we chose books to enjoy:

We are very lucky to have our own school pool and some pretty cool instructors:

School Assembly – Seniors

This Friday is our Senior (Year 4-6) assembly at 2.15pm. We will be handing out Botany Best awards, and Values Bookmarks to the following Year 4-6 students. All whānau are welcome to attend. 

Our BDS Capabilities

Congratulations to our following tamariki who have shown their Botany Best by displaying our Capabilities: Gabe Jacobs, Makarios Tufue, JB Fajardo, Hannah Binning, William Faletau, Koiatu Tuake, Minnie Zhao, Tyler Bernard, Charlotte Walsh, Kainan Wang, Finn O’Neill, Jaskiran Kaur, Wilde Li, Tushita Arun Kumar, Wickus Botha, Jennifer Wu, Rhythm Sharma, Charlie Pirie, Logan Hunter & Christian Ilalio.

Our BDS Values

Congratulations to the following tamariki who have displayed our Value of Relationships – Whanaungatanga: Ahana Ahana, Datis Bassam, Max Han, Lauren Hayes, Konnor Oti, Malika Wineera-Selwyn, Baraa Almayah, Hunter Collins-Preiss, Ela Uguz, Ekko Wong, Breeannah Clark, Noah Ellis, Grant Leslie, Lucy McIntosh, Charlotte Pitcaithly, Anton Birchler, Ashley Cajayon, Marcus Ismail, Ansh Patel & Chloe Morgan.

Enrol Now If Your Child Turns 5 in 2026!

We are currently planning classes and staffing for 2026, and having accurate numbers of new entrants — even those starting mid-year — greatly helps us with this process. Thank you for your support.
Enrolment packs are available from the school office, or you can request one via email: office@botanydowns.school.nz 

Rachel Ryan, DP/SENCo – Year 0-3 (rachelr@botanydowns.school.nz)

LIBRARY NEWS

Books in Home Languages

Looking for books in your home lanugage? We have a small (and growing) collection of children’s books in the following languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Cook Islands, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Spanish, Tongan.

The Auckland Public Libraries also offer books in many languages. You can find them at various libraries around the city by searching here: Auckland Libraries Language Collections. Books may be requested from any Auckland library and picked up at your nearest library.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Dilworth School Open Days

Dilworth School supports great young men to make the most of their talents and opportunities with fully funded scholarships, strong academic performance, outdoor education, and numerous extracurricular opportunities. 

Now is the time to consider whether Dilworth might be for your son.  While predominately a boarding school, day students are accepted for 2027 in Years 7, 8 & 9. This gives more students the amazing opportunity without the need to board. Check out the links below to find out more and consider registering for one of the upcoming Open Days.  These positions are highly sort after!

• Junior Campus (Years 7 & Years 8) VIDEO with Mrs. Justine Scott, Head of Junior Campus
• Senior Campus (Year 9-13) VIDEO with Mr. Dan Reddiex, Headmaster

Register HERE for one of the Open Days:

• Junior Campus: Sunday 8^th March and Sunday 24^th May, 2pm 
• Senior Campus: Sunday 29^th March 2pm 

Pay the kindo way: https://botanydowns.school.nz/kindo/